TSL Thornbird Question

OK I live in a small town of about 5,000 people and live about 2 hours from Reno NV. closet major town. The tire shop in town told me when I went to buy some TSL Thornbirds that they where discontinued. I screamed!!! BULL-**** Tire shop is Les Schwab. Feel like a fool but tell me it's not true. Want some 35x14.50x16.5

dude i'm green with envy!!!! You can do whatever you want out there in Nevada!!!! talk about open spaces!!!
hell 5000 people!!!! 2 million live in my county alone!!!! as for your question a have no freakin idea what a thornbird is!!! sorry .............js

Thornbirds are Super Swamper tires. Gassman, your tire shop is full of it. They just made two new sizes in the Thornbirds so I'm sure they're not discontinued. Before you shell the bucks for these, you might do a search on this site and the off-road.com board about these tires. Every post I've seen, never has good things to say about these tires. They are bias and they will ride harsh, get flat spots, and wonder a little compared to a radial.

Thank's BigJim85 I didn't think that they would stop making them. Think I'll make a speed run to Reno or buy online. Freight will kill me here thought. JimmyDie6.2 Man I feel for ya, think I would go Nuts with that many people around me. One or two cars in front of me on the way to work in the morning is my traffic jam. Sorry for ya. Can go hunting off my back porch. Peace Man. Gassman

Shawn, Man I have not heard about them wondering. Maybe I should do some more reseach. I can deal with the flat spots but NOT wondering. Had some True-traxs along time ago and they were wondering fools. The thornbirds just look so cool. Thank's man for the infor.

Shawn, Looks like you save me a lot of money and time. I looked at the post you gave me from off-road.com I owe ya man. Time to look for something that will work and look good. Not much hard rock crawling around here but lots of mud and snow. I owe ya. Thank's

Hey, no problem. A long time ago, I was also going to purchase a set of Thornbirds myself until I started asking some knowledgable people what they thought. The Thornbirds look wicked but it sounds like they don't perform that well off-road. These boards are a very useful tool when it comes to a major puchase like tires. If you want a wide tire, then take a look at the Swamper TSL radial, and SSR and plan to have them siped for winter traction. Another great tire is the new GoodYear MTR but it doesn't come in wide sizes.

I had a set of 35x14.50 thornbirds and I LOVED THEM. The rode like hell but I didn't mind at the time. And yes the tire shop is full of it because Interco just started making new sizes for the Thornbird. I can't wait to see the 38" .

Mudfrog, How did they work in the mud and snow. A lot of people are saying that they don't clean out at all. Get about 3 to 6 feel of snow around there. Shawn, would love to have my tires with studs but would have to remove them by april 31. then what.

I'm not sure about studs. There's not many brands that have the stud holes. Buckshot Mudders come to mind and I think Monster Mudders may have the holes too. When spring comes, you can remove the studs but I doubt you could re-stud them next winter. That would get expensive too. Siping is different than studs. Siping is just making small slices in the tread which aids in winter traction. Usually you can barely tell a tire has been siped. http://www.4x4review.com/tech/siping.asp
It's better to have a tire hand siped since you can keep the cut inside the lug to prolong tire life. There's a few posts on this board about that. One of the mags just did a tire comparison in the snow last month. It was only a few brands though.

Mud Frog- I hope you didn't take offense to what I mentioned but this is what I've seen and heard about the tires. Some claim these tires work good.

Had a set of 29x10.5x15's on my old toyota. Wouldn't give a plugged nickel for em. Lasted about 15K on a lightweight toyota. My Pirelli Scorpion A/Ts did better in mud and lasted 3 times as long. Just a nasty comparo. I wouldn't pay good money for these things, they were rough and loud like good mud tires but they got it awwnnn about like m/t Baja Belteds. Which isn't saying much. Looked cool though.

gassman,
They did excellent in the mud for me. I didn't get a chance to try them in the snow because I sold the truck the summer I got the tires (too much gas). If you wanna see a pic of my truck with them, go to my website and click the Old Trucks links. I think there might be only one pic but it was right after I pulled my buddy out of a creek. But like I said before the tires were excellent for me offroad.

MudFrog, you may be right, the T-birds may be right up his alley and I may have just gotten a bad set. I was really dissapointed in their wearability and mud throwing capabilities. Wearability may be different in different sizes, but mine only lasted 15K and they were bald. Yet in the mud arena, I'm used to TSL/SX so hey maybe they did allright for what they are. Not trying to blast ya man. I'd just never buy another set nor reccommend them to anyone! HTH,

Hey no problem man. Mine lasted me around 20k then I sold the truck and I know the guy put at least another 5-10k on them before they were replaced, although they were pretty bald. I've never owned any other super swampers other than the thornbird so I'm not sure how they perform compared to the others but I have owned BFG MT and they did quite well compared to them. You have to remember the Thornbird is the AT of the swamper series.

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